


The Bell

by MerryDew (Honey_Dew_Mellon)



Series: Musicals; A Star Wars AU [4]
Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo, Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Accidental rescue mission, Alien!Azelma, Alien!Eponine, Alien!Gavroche, Alien!Thenardiers, And injured, F/M, Gavroche is also aged up, Gen, Gervais just wants to be useful, Grantaire has passed out in a corner, He's pretty sleep deprived, I aged up Petit Gervais, M/M, Marius is less than useful, Tags Are Hard, What even are proper tags, he's also basically Gavroche, he's less petit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2019-01-23 21:28:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12516956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Honey_Dew_Mellon/pseuds/MerryDew
Summary: When Combeferre stops hearing the bells from Jeanne's barricade he knows something is wrong. Prior knowledge of Star Wars not required.





	1. Chapter 1

Combeferre let himself sag up against the barricade only after glancing around to ensure that no one was watching him. He was exhausted, the barricade had lasted two days and had entered its second night only a few hours ago. No one had really expected that it would last this long and as such morale among the students and volunteers had gotten low. There had certainly been a few deserters but still many people believed in their cause with enough strength that they were willing to continue on with minimal rest. There had been an assault on the barricade just after dusk fell but they had been successful in holding the Empire’s stormtroopers off and repelling the attack.

They had scheduled shifts that would let everyone sleep at least long enough to starve off the effects of sleep deprivation, at least most of them. Enjolras was the only one who had refused, despite their best efforts neither him nor Courfeyrac had been able to talk their golden haired leader into lying down for so much as a moment. If he craned his neck to look around the legs of the car that was jammed into a small space between other pieces of furniture to his left then he could see the man.

Their leader, evidently a fearless one as it had taken hours of persuasion to coax him into not stalking back and forth across the top of barricade, stood and glanced through the smallest of holes with arms crossed behind his back. At least he had stopped pacing back and forth. That had been making the others anxious. He was proving to be as unpredictable as Marius, the darker haired man almost blown up the barricade to force the stormtroopers to retreat during the dusk attack. As he watched the blond looked away from the barricade and over to the door of the Musain.

When he followed his friend’s line of sight he found that it rested at a particular table that was littered with empty bottles. Grantaire’s head was sprawled between those and when he’d gone to check on the Zankrei just a few hours ago he’d been entirely unconscious and non-responsive to external stimuli. It was a disappointment when they’d realized that the man meant nothing by actually showing at the barricade aside from to drink himself into a stupor. The one who’d been hurt the most by that was Enjolras, despite the leader and the cynic being at constant odds he’d still had some faith in the drunk.

There was only one odd thing about the entire situation. When he’d gone to check on Grantaire there had been a comlink sitting on the table beside him. It had been on but locked with a blank screen, he didn’t recognize it as belonging to his friend. He’d seen the man’s old comlink, it had hardly been functional and was broken more often than not but any offer of replacement had been refused. He’d still been staring at it in confusion when Floreal had walked by with an explanation. She’d said that it was a gift from a college recruiter.

He was interrupted from his curious wondering about Grantaire by Courfeyrac stumbling up to lean beside him. The other brunet had been on the sleep rotation, he’d ordered him to rest but he still moved with the lurch of exhaustion. Neither of them bothered to speak, in lieu of doing so the other man rested his head on his shoulder and nuzzled in. Without thinking about it, Combeferre reached up and started to run his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair. The two of them rested in relative silence, interrupted only by the occasional moan of the wounded that where under Joly’s care for several minutes, long enough for his eyes to start to close on their own.

It was that same silence that suddenly forced him to open them again and move away from Courfeyrac’s comfortable warmth. He cocked his head to the side, just to be sure, but the silence remained the same. Before he could ask for the other man’s opinion he turned to see that his eyes had also snapped open and where wide with alarm. Since they had put up the barricade during the dawn hours two days ago they had been able to hear a bell ringing through the streets. It had belonged to a building that had been taken by the men of another revolutionary, Charles Jeanne and while the man might not have agreed with Enjolras’ reasons for supporting the revolution he had boasted that he would keep that bell ringing for as long as his barricade stood. He had kept that promise for two days and it seemed unlikely to Combeferre that he would simply decide to stop after such a long time.

In the same moment Courfeyrac’s head came up and he opened his mouth, probably to complain about the sudden movement, but before he could get so much as one word out the action turned into a massive yawn. Once he’d finished he tilted his head in surprise and then his eyes widened in the same alarm that had just struck Combeferre. Neither of them spoke for a moment as they waited, desperate to hear something that would indicate that it had been unjust for them to jump to the worst conclusion. Yet the deep noise of the bell didn’t ring out again.

“We should-“ he began

“Tell Enjolras.” Courfeyrac finished.

They moved as one to get up and do so. Enjolras had continued to pace back and forth just behind the shelter of the barricade even though all the people who weren’t sleeping where on watch and therefore not looking at him. Then again for their leader it had never been about creating an image for the sake of other people, he was just being himself. But that came with as many complications as it did uses, such as right now where Enjolras was still pacing despite having not gotten any sleep over the past few days.

Through unspoken agreement Combeferre spoke up. “Enjolras.” Their leader looked lost in his thoughts and jerked to look at him. “Jeanne’s bell has stopped ringing. We know most of the other barricades have already fallen but he might have been the last one. If he was then our flank is unprotected.” He didn’t need to ask what he wanted to do now. That had been the question on everyone’s mind since the second day. They weren’t going to win this and they didn’t even seem to be making an impression on the people.

Blue eyes snapped from distant thought into instant focus on his face. “We need to send someone over the rooftops to scout out the situation. How long has the bell been silent?” He didn’t have an answer, up until Courfeyrac had curled up with him he hadn’t had the chance to process what he was hearing… or what he wasn’t hearing. Enjolras didn’t give him a chance to say that much though. He just continued. “There could be prisoners or people fleeing. Either way we need to get visual confirmation of the situation. Jeanne could have just decided that it wasn’t worth the man power to keep the thing ringing.” His own voice betrayed just how unlikely that he thought that would be the case.

The blond glanced around for a moment, clearly looking for someone who he could send. The only path over to the other barricade was over the roofs or through the tunnels. The tunnels where paths that where well documented and would likely have patrols but the roofs consisted of shifting paths as the buildings grew in height. The only issue was that the only ones among those on the barricade where Eponine, Gavroche, Azelma, Montparnasse, Brujon and Feuilly. Eponine had been shot during an earlier defense of the barricade as she’d defended Marius, she lived yet but was only just holding on under Joly’s care. Gavroche had vanished, saying that he was going to find them more power packs for their blasters, and had been shot multiple times while trying to sneak back. He lived as well if in a situation as precarious as his sister’s. Azelma could not be moved from her sibling’s sides. Montparnasse and Brujon where not to be trusted as they had admitted to being sent to cause chaos so that looting might ensure, even if they had changed their minds and stopped Claquesous from murdering a civilian. Feuilly had been half delirious with exhaustion when he had finally been ordered to rest less than an hour ago. Out of those six none seemed to be a particularly appealing option.

Before the three of them could weigh the evils of selecting any of them a small voice spoke up from behind them. “I can go.” The speaker was Gervais, or Petit Gervais. A Kiffar with golden tattoos forming a maze across his forehead he was a street kid a few years younger than Gavroche who worked shifts at the Musain. He shouldn’t even be on the barricade at all in Combeferre opinion, he was a child far too young but the boy had refused to leave and no one had the heart to make him. At least not once he had explained that he had no one else in the universe except for the people who were all determined to stay on the barricade. Or in a few cases just seemed resigned to remaining on the barricade.

It had been easy to forget that he was there as he stayed out of the way. He had been responsible for dragging the wounded away from the barricade to keep them out from underfoot and for handing out their strictly rationed supply of blaster battery packs. Now however he had the full attention of all three of them and didn’t seem like he was going to back down or withdraw his offer. “I can do it. I know the rooftops like the back of my hand and I know where they’ll be looking for people and where they won’t.”

Combeferre felt like it was his duty to talk the kid out of this. He’d been reluctant to let Gavroche stay on the barricade and Gervais was four years younger than him. The only issue was that he couldn’t come up with a good reason for the kid not to do it. They needed a scout and, with the odds being that it was only their barricade left, it would be good if they got the kid to go away for a while. Perhaps he’d even have enough common sense to stay away now. It was clear that there was only one way that this was going to end now and the less people who died the better.

Enjolras didn’t do more than blink “Alright. We need you to come back so don’t get too close if things really have gone badly over there.” Gervais barely waited until the blond had finished speaking before he took off. The boy didn’t even bother to head into one of buildings but instead scaled his way up using the window ledges and cracks in the side of the building. Combeferre thought it looked like a waste of energy but he noticed that Courfeyrac’s eyes followed the boy’s movements exactly. It was fortunate that his boyfriend was exhausted otherwise there was no doubt in his mind that if he wasn’t he would have spent the next hour trying to scale that building.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gervais somehow manages to turn his scouting mission into a rescue mission

Combeferre had no idea how much time had passed between Gervais leaving and the rooftop scout that they had posted calling out the alarm. With Courfeyrac awake to keep an eye on Enjolras it had been his turn to sleep. He did not get his full four hours of rest however as he had specifically chosen to sleep close to the lookout post so he would be awoken the moment that the alarm was sounded. His plan proved to be fruitful as he came to with the sounds of Cosette’s voice calling out a warning, made harsh by the days of stress. The sound struck him as alien when he first awoke and his still tired brain took several extra seconds to process it.

Once it did so successfully he was instantly up on his feet and only a few seconds behind Enjolras and Courfeyrac in scrambling up to the sheltered lookout point. High on the roof of the Musain Cosette had a clear line of sight from her perch to much of the surrounding neighbourhood. When the three of them joined her she point down the street with one hand while the other made soothing gestures towards a wild eyed Marius. Apparently the other student had been sleeping up there to keep her company and been completely startled by her warning cry.

The sight that she point out to them was not something that they had been expecting. The tattered group that was ducking around the corner just out of the line of sight of the imperial barricades were no stormtroopers or local law enforcement. Instead it appeared to consist of the same mixture of students and working class citizen’s as did the group who was manning their barricade. The group was led by a black haired human male who glanced down at his side to consult a younger boy. It was only when all three of them saw the boy that they realized what it was that they were looking at and who the dark haired man actually was.

Somehow Gervais had turned the simple scouting mission that they had assigned to him into a rescue mission. The dark haired man was Charles Jeanne and from the way that he was speaking to Gervais the two of them where trying to figure out how best to get the group over to the barricade without managing to be seen. The injured that where being supported by others or dragged along on stretchers that appeared to be constructed of doors and torn clothing gave a clear idea as to what must have happened to the barricade if the very presence of the people hadn’t been enough.

“Marius.” When Enjolras said that other student’s name all three of them looked down to see that the dark haired boy had curled back up on the floor of the lookout’s nest and seemed to have fallen back to sleep. Combeferre supposed that the man had the same right to get some sleep as the rest of them, maybe more since he had saved the barricade (admittedly by threatening to blow it up) from an unexpected attack. “Marius,” their leader repeated his name and got no response so Cosette took matters into her own hands and kicked her boyfriend in the gut.

He was on his feet in a heartbeat and blinking blearily at all of them, one hand curled protectively around his stomach as tired eyes tried to figure out which one of them had woken him up so rudely. For her part Cosette just suddenly looked very innocent, an impressive feat considering the dirt on her face and hair.

“Marius I need you to go down there and get Jeanne’s people behind the barricade. You should be able to get them all in through the tunnels providing you move quickly. Go and get Azelma to help you figure it out, tell her that you won’t be keeping her from her siblings for more than a few minutes.” Enjolras gave the instructions quickly, clearly too quickly for a tired Marius to understand and he had to repeat himself several times over before the dark haired man lurched off to do as he’d been told. With a sigh Combeferre decided that it would be best that he follow. The more people that they had managing this the better even if all the people that they had available to do so were sleep deprived, grieving or both.

Marius yawned as they staggered into the first floor of the Musain. Aside from Grantaire’s table most of the furniture had been dragged out into the street and used to create the four barricades that closed in the intersection and protected their little base. The only things left where most of the booths as they were either welded or nailed into the walls too closely to be pulled out even by the most eager of their volunteers. On those booths closest to the door lay sleeping students and on those in the very back of the café lay the deceased or the wounded for whom no further treatment with their limited supplies would help. It pained him to see both Eponine and Gavroche occupying both sides of one of the booths reserved for the latter. Azelma sat cross legged on the floor where she could see both of them clearly and see that they continued to breath.

All the Thénardier siblings where half Twi’lek and half human. Eponine used to joke that that was the only way that they could be sure her mother wasn’t cheating on her father since she had always been extremely vocal about her unhappiness with her human husband. Maybe a little too vocal considering that Madame Thénardier was certainly the one in charge of the relationship. Azelma’s skin was mottled dark green and peach; unlike the Twi’lek’s distant cousin the Vaxry even hybrids with human blood did not grow hair on their heads. Her headtails where shorter than those of the average Twi’lek.

She didn’t turn around until Combeferre reached out and very, very gently rested one hand on her shoulder. Then she shrugged him off and twisted around to stand facing him with shock in her eyes and tension in her body. They both faded out to be replaced with exhaustion as she realized who it was who had touched her. Her eyes were puffy and red, she’d clearly been crying. He didn’t blame her and he wished that he could say something, anything to help. He was training to be a doctor, just like Joly and out of the two he was always said to be the one with a better bedside manner but he still didn’t have any words to comfort her now with both of her siblings who had stayed with her on the verge of death.

Exhaustion pushed him to be blunter than he ever would be otherwise, well a combination of exhaustion and the knowledge that there wasn’t that much time left for them to get Jeanne’s people into relative safety. “Azelma we need your help.” She glared at him and he hurried to continue before she could say no and return to her watch. “Jeanne’s barricade fell and Gervais has brought a bunch of his people here. But they have injured that we can’t get back here over the roof. You know the tunnels best, you’ll be able to find the quickest way to get them all back here. Joly will make sure to keep an eye on your siblings until you get back.”

He hadn’t asked the other doctor to do that, he would just before they left. Still when Azelma looked over at Joly the other student happened to be looking up and he gave her a reassuring smile and nod. That was the thing about Joly, despite his absolute terror when it came to his personal safety involving germs he didn’t seem to have any fear when faced with someone else’s crisis. Out of everyone he seemed to be holding together the best, even when he’s had to use their last bacta patch to seal up a hole in Jehan’s head. Considering that they had just had to use the tunnels to rescue Jehan and he’d gotten shot during the escape it had been a wonder that any of them had been able to keep from falling to the ground sobbing. The only one who’d thought things could go this badly had been Grantaire and he’d not been much help.

Azelma lead the three of them out of the café as quickly as she could walk, when Combeferre ducked off to the side to tell Joly to keep a closer eye on Gavroche and Eponine he hardly managed to catch up to the two of them as she levered the top off of a pot hole. She dropped down into the tunnel first and, while Marius hesitated, he scrambled to catch up and drop down after her before she could run off on her own. Just as he let himself slide down into the tunnels he heard Courfeyrac calling to him but didn’t have time to answer.

The drop was deeper than he had judged it to be and he staggered as he landed, Azelma hadn’t taken off yet and she reached out to grab his arm and prevent him from falling. They both glanced up to see Marius and Courfeyrac peering down at them before the other two students withdrew. Less than a minutes later Marius jumped down and promptly fell on his ass before either of them could try to stop him. In his right hand he held a comlink that he handed over to Combeferre when he reached out with the intent to help the dark haired man up.

“Courfeyrac says that Cosette will keep us updated on the current position of Jeanne’s people and the guards with this. She’ll only feed us information in short bursts so that the Empire’s people don’t have a chance to track it as coming from the barricade.” For a moment he had second thoughts about bringing Marius along with them. The dark haired man looked no less tired or disorientated than he had when he’d been woken up and he didn’t seem like he was going to be of much help. Before he could tell the other man to just go back up and go back to sleep in the hopes that he’d been more useful later the comlink chimed with the first update and Azelma snatched it from him. She hardly seem to even glance at it before she took off and the two of them had to follow or risk instantly losing sight of her around a corner.

Combeferre had never liked the tunnels, they struck him as extremely unsafe. As with most developed planets there were lower and higher levels of streets. These tunnels where in reality maintenance spaces left over when construction had pushed underground which mean that under his feet there was another street where the imperials where gathering, probably getting ready for another assault on the barricade. To him it seemed only reasonable to be made slightly uncomfortable under such circumstances.

Still he followed closely behind Azelma. She showed no signs of being willing to give back the comlink nor did she seemed inclined to slow down. She didn’t even show any signs of doing so right up until she came to a sudden halt in the middle of the tunnel so abruptly that he almost staggered into her back and Marius actually took several steps past them before he realized.

“Give me a hand.” She didn’t ask, she instructed and the two of them both moved to obey. Thy both got down on one knee to give her a stable platform to stand on and after looking from one to another she reached out to brace herself on Combeferre’s shoulder as she stepped up. He winced slightly as she shifted and found her balance, it wasn’t that she was heavy but rather that he was tired and achy. She stretched up above her and grabbed the rings of a ladder that was folded into the upper wall and roof. He found himself wincing again as she stretched up on her toes and then violently pulled down. The ladder screeched as it slid down into place between him and Marius.

Before he could even get to his feet she had moved directly from his knee onto the rungs of the ladder. Clearly used to climbing the rusted thing she scrambled upwards to wait by the manhole above. She held herself in place with one arm hooked through the rungs while the other hand was occupied dong something with the comlink. From his position below all he could see was the screen light up with a new message before she reached up and started to push the manhole cover out of the way. It must be lighter than it looked because she didn’t seem to have to exert half of the effort that she had needed to pull down the ladder in order to move it off to the side.

He went up the ladder as she climbed out onto the street. He knew that she was in a rush because she wanted to get back to her siblings, knew that there was still a good chance that either of the two could die, but he still wished that she would devote at least a little bit of time to caution. There could be Imperials waiting for them just out of sight and he didn’t know if the barricade would survive should they devote serious resources to a tunnel attack. As he glanced around at the top Marius hauled himself out of the tunnels and carefully pull the manhole cover back into place. With the streets unnaturally silent it seemed much louder than it had even in the tunnels and Combeferre waited for a squad of stormtroopers to me racing around the corner.

But the sound didn’t summon anyone aside from Azelma who came back around from the corner where she had been exploring. “Come on. Cosette says that they’re up this way but we have to hurry. They’re in the clear for the moment but Imperial patrols are looking for them. We have to hurry and get them underground.” He had to lurch into a shambling run in order to keep up with her and Marius let out a low groan as he followed suit, the first noise that the other student had made since handing over the comlink. Long periods of silence where far from unusual for the other man, he frequently lost his voice to some extended line of thought. At least this time he still appeared to be grounded enough in the present to be aware of his surroundings.

They came around the corner to find Azelma holding still at yet another corner, she was pressed close to the wall and peering cautiously around. Both he and Marius took the hint and walked in single file, shoulder brushing up against the wall to join her. As they came closer she pulled back to meet them about half way down the street. “They’re right around the corner,” her voice had dropped to a whisper and he frowned. Despite the disagreements between Charles Jeanne and Enjolras their two groups remained allies which meant that there was no reason to hide from them. “I was going to tell them to come with me but they don’t know me. It would be natural to think that I was leading them into a trap.”

He’d all but forgotten that even Azelma, her mother’s favourite child, had still received training on how to look at a situation critically. For the Thénardiers crime was a family business whether it be smuggling things for bigger organisations or running legitimate bounty hunting operations. All of their children had been trained and, despite having all split from their parents, they still retained the knowledge of how things worked.

Marius had always been on the peripheral of their meetings and had had little or nothing to do with Jeanne’s group which made Combeferre the obvious choice to approach the group. He had no choice but to move quickly, Cosette was still sending Azelma updates every two or three minutes and the Imperials would be here soon. Still he tried not to rush too much, Jeanne was familiar to him but the group would be jumpy and he didn’t want to get shot by accident.

He cleared his throat as loudly as he could, it was too risky to shout with Imperials probably patrolling both side streets, as he approached and was rewarded with an entire array of mismatched weapons being pointed in his face. The different blasters, and one laser cannon wielded by a broad shouldered Wookie, all disappeared just as quickly as they had appeared when Jeanne held up one hand and gave a low order. The man looked worse for the wear, with blood smeared down his face from a cut just below his hair line and a dark stain on his left knee. He was leaning off the shoulder of Marie, a dark purple Vaxry who was one of his seconds.

Beside them stood Gervais, the boy immediately darted forwards and opened his mouth to speak but Jeanne beat him to it. “I’m sure that you’re eager to report but it ought to wait until we’re safe. We’ve been dodging Imperial patrols the entire way here and I can’t imagine that it will take too long for them to figure out where we’ve gone.”

Despite the fact that Jeanne was right and that they really should just get going right now Combeferre felt the irrational desire to stop and get Gervais to explain things to him right now. Jeanne disagreed with the very principles on which the Amis where based, the only reason that they had even co-ordinated their barricades was because both Jeanne and Enjolras knew that their only shot at success was if they worked together. The arguments that he had heard between the two had definitely caused him to take issue with Jeanne on a personal level than he probably should.

Still, before his impaired self-control could lead to them standing here in the street long enough to be caught, Azelma grabbed his sleeve and started to pull him back the way that they’d come. Her legs were shorter than his and yet he still found that he had a hard time keeping up with the pace that she set. “We have injured with us.” He muttered, trying to keep his voice down so that he wouldn’t be overheard by Jeanne, Marie, and Gervais who were approaching rapidly from behind them. “Try to slow down so that they can keep up.”

“I’m sure that the Imperials will be thinking of the same thing,” she muttered and he was saved from having to point out that no matter what speed their group was moving in relation to that of the imperials the injured would be captured if they were left behind by the other three catching up to them despite Jeanne’s limp persisting. The dark haired man didn’t look at him, just kept limping forwards with eyes focused on some distant point and much of his weight leaning into Marie.

When they got back to the manhole cover he and Marius moved it aside, he could feel Jeanne’s eyes on him and when he looked over the shoulder the man was giving the size of the manhole a dubious glance. He said something in Marie’s ear, too quietly for Combeferre to overhear, and she slipped over from under his arm to go back to the bulk of the survivors. He looked back to see her say something to a vaguely familiar looking dark furred Cathotaki who had an ear missing and blood stained bandages wrapped around his head.

As he watched the entire group shifted around. The injured were moved from the middle of the group up to the front and a few people, they seemed to be acting as medics, moved around to examine stretchers in comparison to the manhole. The wounded that were not tightly secured to stretchers small enough to fit into the manhole were removed, some able bodied people jumped down and started the process of lowering them down to return them onto the stretchers that would fit down. Those that didn’t were distributed into surrounding doorways in the hopes that they would draw less attention and not tell the Imperials exactly where their prey had bolted to.

Combeferre had to admit that he was impressed with the speed in which Jeanne’s people could adapt and come up with ways to get things done. While the people who had followed Enjolras to the barricade were determined and loyal – the later to the point where it had been hard to convince even five of them to leave when there had been a chance – they could not be said to be organised. That’s what came of a mismatched group of students, refugees from combat zones across the universe, and workers all defending the same barricade. Still it had been enough for them to outlast Jeanne and become the last barricade. Privately he had to wonder if that wasn’t because the bell’s constant ringing hadn’t made the other barricade a bigger target.

Marie returned to Jeanne’s side and moved to take up his arm again but he shook his head and she glared at him before turning over to the manhole. She glanced up at him once more before reaching out to help the one eared Cathotaki judge the dropdown, the feline aliens relied heavily on hearing to judge distances. For his part Jeanne just stood beside Combeferre, Marius and Azelma watching his people file past. He reached out to pat the occasional shoulder and address someone by name. He seemed to have a real talent for speaking to people on a personal level which was another opposite to Enjolras. The blond knew how to fire up a group and how to appeal to someone’s convictions in order to make them jump into action but he had no head for personal relationships with the people who followed him. He had been friends with many of Les Amis before all this and despite their best efforts they had never been able to make him open his social circle.

Once the last of Jeanne’s people where down in the tunnel Azelma and Marius jumped down, leaving just Combeferre, Jeanne and Marie standing around on the street. The two of them stood on either side of Jeanne and, despite his awkward assurances that he would be able to get down there on his own, they lowered him over the edge into the waiting shoulders of the one eared Cathotaki and Marius. Marie barely even gave the three of them enough time to get out of the way before she headed down the ladder. He followed suit, pausing part way down so that he could pull the manhole cover back into place, before he joined the group at the bottom.

All the injured who could not walk on their own had been loaded back onto their makeshift stretchers and people had been dispatched to carry them through the tunnels. What had been a small group when observed from the roof and when approached on the street under open air suddenly seemed much larger in the confined area of the tunnels. Jeanne and Marie, as she had instant moved back under his shoulder, moved towards the front of the group and he found himself struggling to catch up to them.

Both Azelma and Marius moved with him, with one more glance around him at the crowd that they were shoving through, he turned to the latter. “Marius can you take up the back? Just to make sure that nobody falls behind. It would be easy for people to get lost down here if they fall far enough back to lose sight of the group.” That was true, for a group as large as they were and carrying as many heavy things they moved with surprising speed and silence. It seemed that there had been more time devoted to training Jeanne’s people than Les Amis had been able to devote to training there people.

The dark haired man nodded and instantly fell back. It still felt a little bit weird to have people whom he thought of as friends obeying his orders without question, it even felt weirder that it came naturally for him to give orders to his friends. He didn’t think Enjolras had that same issue and he knew that Courfeyrac didn’t because his boyfriend didn’t give out orders. Instead he treated anyone who he needed to tell to do something like a close friend from whom he needed a favour, for some reason that always seemed to work for him. Enjolras on the other hand just struck people as commanding and even his suggestions somehow came across as orders that needed to be obeyed instantly.

The trip back to the manhole under the barricade passed without incident. When they came into view of the opening that would take them back up to blockaded area of the tunnels Combeferre was surprised to see that there a few people standing guard with weapons in hand. One of them, Montparnasse, had a blaster up and pointed at the approaching group with a wild look born of sleep deprivation in his eyes. Combeferre held out his hands in the hopes that the action would let the other man identify them and Marie moved out from under Jeanne’s arm to stand in front of him. Both actions where made unnecessary by Bahorel launching himself off the wall and snatching away Montparnasse’s blaster with a glare. It seemed that the dark man’s sudden turn against Claquesous hadn’t been enough for anyone to trust him.

Bahorel didn’t return the weapon as he moved forwards to greet them and with a reluctant sigh on his face Montparnasse came with him. The dark red Taliri wore same sardonic smile that he almost always had but the effect was ruined somewhat to Combeferre, the image of fury and shame that had been on the other man’s face when he warned Les Amis about what Claquesous was too fresh. As was the way that he had physically placed himself between the would-be murderer and his targets when he’d tried to shoot both Joly and Enjolras in the back to create chaos. While Enjolras had forgiven him and then claimed him as a heroic member of the rebellion it was clear that no one else, probably including Montparnasse himself, had done the same.

“We need to get them all above ground and then seal the manhole.” Bahorel spoke up quietly with an anxious glance over at Jeanne. “Enjolras says that if we can get men out through it then the Imps could get men in. He offered to let anyone else who wanted to leave out again.” The first time that Enjolras had made that offer had been on the second night when it was clear that the general public was not going to rise up. Only a few people had taken it then, those who had responsibilities and family that they cared about, and he frantically hoped that no one had done so now.

“Did anyone leave?” They could already only just man all the sides of the barricade and in order for people to sleep in shifts they’d had to settle for posting people in the corners where they could keep an eye on two sides at a time. It was bad, it could only end in someone managing to slip through, but it was all that they could do. There were no other options if they wanted this barricade to last long enough for it to mean something. Relief flashed through him when Bahorel shock his head.

“No but he’s on edge. He hasn’t stopped pacing since he came down from the lockout post and he’s been constantly sending runners up to get updates on your position. When you went into the tunnels he sent us down here to keep an eye on things and send up a runner the moment that you showed up.” Runners where the one thing that the barricade had plenty of. Street kids who felt that they owed Les Amis a favor because of how they had helped them out on nights when it got too cold for them to sleep outside. They had some strange way of sneaking around and staying out of the sight of the imperials, they also refused to leave and get to safety.

“That’s alright then.” If they could leave, all of them together, then that old be for the best but there was no chance that he could convince most of the people on the barricade to go along with that plan. So long as that was the case it was better that everyone stay, together they would be stronger and be able to last at least a little bit longer. “Can you get help? If Enjolras wants this place sealed then Jeanne’s people are going to need a hand getting up there quickly.” He ignored the dark haired man glaring at him. Even if his people where insanely efficient they could still be helped by more hands, probably.

Bahorel was unwilling to leave Jeanne’s people in the hands of Montparnasse and, as it turned out, Brujon who had been sleeping on the ground wrapped in an oversized jacket so Marius stayed in the tunnels. Ideally Azelma would have as well but she had immediately ran for the ladder and right by everyone, she’d probably made for her spot by her siblings bedside. At the thought of Eponine and Gavroche he couldn’t help but glance back down the ladder at Montparnasse. Out of everyone on the barricade the only people who could be said to actually like the man at all, aside from Brujon, where the Thénardier siblings and Grantaire. He knew that the reason that the dark Taliri was so sleep deprived was because he kept watch over Azelma’s siblings in order to give her a few hours of rest. Another crack in what Combeferre was starting to think was the façade that the man didn’t care about anything or anyone aside from himself.

Combeferre b-lined for Enjolras the moment that he picked out the tall man’s shock of blond hair. Before he was half way there Gervais appeared at his elbow and matched his stride. At some point he had lost track of the boy in the tunnels and a small part of him had hoped that the street kid had realized that he was putting himself in danger and decided to leave. But the Kiffar kept stride with him and didn’t seem to be at all hesitant. As they approached he noticed Enjolras getting a report from Joly and winced as he heard the doctor rattle off the list of wounded. Every time he walked the entrance to the Musain and heard the moaning of one injured man or another he wanted to duck in and give up all his other responsibilities to treat them alongside his friend. That was the doctor he was training to be speaking and right now he had to be someone else.

The moment Joly finished the report Enjolras turned to face him and for a second he thought he could see complete and utter exhaustion on his face. In a flash, as soon as their leader saw that Gervais was standing with him, the exhaustion vanished and his face was schooled to stillness. “How did the rescue go? How many of Jeanne’s people are injured? Do you think that we can use the tunnels to get some of the worst off out of here and someplace where they can get proper treatment?” The rapid fire questions where the only sign that Enjolras was experiencing even the slightest stress. Sure he got impassioned sometimes and spoke loudly but he never spoke quickly, not unless he was emotional.

“It went well, we didn’t have time for a head count-“

“Jeanne has twelve injured –not including himself and one of his lieutenants – and eighteen uninjured with him. I don’t think that number of uninjured includes Marie but he didn’t specify that much.” Gervais interjected which was something of a relief because it hadn’t even occurred to him to ask for specific numbers. He had been more concerned with trying to make sure that Marius didn’t take it into his head to do something stupid and keeping up with Azelma.

“And the tunnels are a definite possibility for getting the injured out. We would need to be careful, there could be storm troopers around any corner and we wouldn’t have time to react before they were on us…” he could see that this wasn’t the advice that Enjolras wanted to hear from him but he didn’t get the opportunity to explain that he didn’t mean to say that it was a bad idea to at least give evacuating the wounded a chance because Jeanne sudden limped up. Marie was still glued to his side and he seemed to be have become weaker as he was putting more weight across her shoulders than he had been before.

Actually, now that he took a chance to better examine Jeanne beyond just his obvious injury, it occurred to him that the dark haired man’s colour wasn’t good. He was pale and there was too much sweat on his face for Combeferre’s liking. Suddenly his doctor mind was screaming at him to get the man to sit down and give him a much closer examination. He could be in shock which meant that he might not realize the severity of injuries he had received, such was frequently the case with walking wounded and he found himself moving in just a little bit closer in case Jeanne suddenly collapsed.

“Enjolras.” The normal chill was gone from the dark haired man’s voice to be replaced with faint gratitude and compete exhaustion. “Thank you. I was trying to get here because my runners’ last report said that your barricade was still up but I wasn’t sure how we would get in. I have to say that I didn’t expect you to be willing to risk the lives of your people and weaken your barricade just so you could rescue us.”

He could tell that this was not what Enjolras had been expected, in the past any interaction between the two leaders had been fraught with tension. Still Enjolras did an impressive job of collecting himself before he spoke. “You’re welcome, there was no chance that I would be leaving anyone out to be shot down in the street. Your people are welcome to stay on the barricade for as long as they are willing to continue the fight.” He blinked and stared at Jeanne for long enough that it seemed he’d finished speaking before he continued “You do not look well, Combeferre can take you to see Joly and the two of them will do what they can to help.”

Jeanne gave a gracious nod while Combeferre found himself unable to do more than stare blankly at Enjolras, it had to have been exhaustion or stress that had led him to believe he had actually just heard those words. Enjolras, who was quite possibly the worst person when it came to any form of self-care or even recognizing when others were hurt, had just suggested that someone else seek medical attention and had done so tactfully. Jeanne and Marie both had to clear their throats before he regained enough presence of mind to follow through on the suggestion and lead them both into the Musain.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the long wait between works in this series. I've been busy but over the next month there should be some more things going up on this account from me.   
> The Taliri are another species that I created. Red skinned humanoids they have horns and talon like nails. Individuals of the species can have certain abilities but those are, for the moment, largely irrelevant as Montparnasse doesn't have them 
> 
> Edited by Mellon-nin

**Author's Note:**

> Gervais is there because I aged up Gavroche. Gavroche is aged up because I have plans for his little brothers and everyone needed to be older.


End file.
